Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has raised alarm over what he described as growing political intolerance, killings and abductions in Kenya, warning that the country is “sliding to chaos” if urgent action is not taken.

Speaking at a church service on Sunday, July 5, 2026, Matiang’i appealed to religious leaders across the country to take a leading role in promoting peace, reconciliation and national unity, saying Kenya was facing a moral and social crisis.

“I just want to ask all religious leaders, both those who are here and those who are not here in the country, you have a duty now of trying the best you can to mobilize us and call us back to humanity,” Matiang’i said.

Senseless killings

He condemned what he termed senseless killings and abductions, likening the loss of human life to practices of human sacrifice condemned in the Bible.

“These senseless killings you are seeing happen here, these abductions and so on – it’s like, actually, as a country, we have now entertained a cult that offers human life as sacrifices. There is no difference between those idols that we read in parts of the Bible who offered human sacrifices and how lives are being treated,” he said.

Matiang’i further expressed concern over what he described as increasing political hostility, claiming that hatred had become a tool for political mobilisation.

“Our country has got serious problems. Two things that concern me most in that respect: how hate has become a weapon of political mobilization,” he said.

The Jubilee presidential candidate also alleged that leaders allied to the opposition were facing discrimination and intimidation, citing an incident during a recent visit to Kuria.

According to Matiang’i, such actions undermine national cohesion and threaten the country’s stability.

“I was in Kuria for a function last week… where a public institution is ordered to actually deny services to a whole village for several hours just because I was there and I’m a leader from the opposition,” he claimed.

“When you get to that kind of situation, the country is sliding into chaos,” he warned.